Not only will this activity help children develop a better sense of muscular control, it also provides a lesson in exactness and rigor, laying the foundations for later geometry work.
Here’s how it works:
Folding Cloths
Folding Clothes is a wonderful Montessori exercise in building independence, confidence and fine motor skills, by utilizing an everyday object: cloth.
A child will locate the activity on a practical shelf in a Montessori classroom, selecting the work and then choosing a table to get started. Note: Typically, this work is conducted by children between two and a half and four and a half years old, depending on interest and ability.
Once the child has selected the table, they will lay the tray down and remove the first cloth to get started.
There are a number of different folding exercises contained within the tray. As an example, illustrated above, a child will trace their finger along the seams, highlighting where the fold will occur.
They will then carefully fold the cloth, along the seams, receiving the visual confirmation they need to know they are completing the task.
Once the child has successfully folded the cloths, they will place them at the top left of the table, where the other cloths lay, proceeding to work on the next one in the series.